Key People

Joseph Smith -
Founder
of the Mormon church, which attracted a large following

William Miller -
Leader
of the Millerite movement; projected 1844 as
the end of the world

The Second Great Awakening and Revivalism

In addition to social and economic changes, the antebellum
period was also marked by a flurry of religious revivalism that
spread throughout every region of the United States. Beginning with
the Second Great Awakening (a sudden evangelical movement
that started around the turn of the nineteenth century), this renewed interest
in religion arose primarily as a backlash against the Enlightenment
and so-called “age of reason” that had inspired thinkers such as
Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, and Thomas Paine.

Hundreds of roving preachers began to spread
a variety of gospels on circuit routes, setting up revivalist
camps in rural areas that attracted thousands of new converts.
Reverend Charles G. Finney, one of the most popular
revivalists of the time, spread his version of the Good Word to
thousands of Americans over the course of fifty years. His converted
were often so overcome with religion that they would roll, jerk, shake,
shout, and even bark in a frenzy of salvation.

The Burned-Over District

The epicenter of revivalism was the so-called Burned-Over
District in western New York. Named for its overabundance
of hellfire-and-damnation preaching, the region produced dozens
of new denominations, communal societies, and reform movements.
The abolitionist and temperance movements (see
The Spirit of Reform
,
p. 57) also had some
of their strongest roots in this region.

Methodists, Baptists, and Unitarians

Although southern and western Baptists and Methodists were known
for their hellfire-and-damnation zeal, other sects and denominations
were regarded for their appeal to reason. Unitarians in
New England, for example, attracted a huge following because of their
belief in a loving God, free will, and denial of original sin. The Unitarian
movement attracted many of the nation’s foremost intellectuals,
including Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, and other Transcendentalists.

Millerites

Conservative revival preaching sometimes spawned radical
new denominations such as the Millerites. William Miller’s
movement, which flourished in the 1830s
and early 1840s,
attracted several hundred thousand Christians who believed that
Jesus would return to Earth on October 22, 1844.
Though many Millerites lost faith when Jesus failed to show up,
the movement prevailed for several decades. Followers eventually
reorganized themselves into the modern-day Seventh-Day Adventists.

Mormons

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, or Mormons,
also emerged from western New York. Founded by Joseph Smith in 1830,
the Mormons believed that God had entrusted them with a new set
of scriptures called the Book of Mormon. Because some Mormons practiced polygamy,
they were forced to follow Smith westward across the continent to
find safe haven from persecution.